Kevin Frandsen

Released by the Nationals on April 1 as they pared down their roster for Opening Day, utility man Kevin Frandsen has signed a minor league deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Frandsen will start with the D’Backs’ Triple-A affiliate in Reno, as he revealed via his Twitter account on Tuesday. Frandsen, 32, spent the 2014 season with the Nationals…

Updated at 2:10 p.m. JUPITER, Fla. — The Nationals’ late-spring bench dilemma got a little clearer Tuesday morning when the club released utilityman Kevin Frandsen and reassigned outfielder Tony Gwynn Jr. to minor-league camp. Both moves would have been surprising only a week or two ago, but there was growing evidence in recent days both…

VIERA, Fla. — Put together a list of the most indispensable players on the Nationals roster, and Anthony Rendon might well sit at the top. Or, at least, in the top three. So Wednesday’s revelation that Rendon’s ailing left knee required a second MRI, leaving him unlikely to be ready for Opening Day, was a…

JUPITER, Fla. — Anthony Rendon’s chance of being ready for Opening Day, already a question mark, appears slim at best after a second MRI of the Nationals third baseman’s left knee showed only minor improvement. The MRI, administered Tuesday in Viera, showed Rendon’s MCL remains sprained, better than it was three weeks ago but not…

There was a lot that came out of our conversations with Nationals players at NatsFest back on Dec. 13, lots of important baseball stuff that had to be written and talked about soon after the fact. Now that Mark and I are done presenting the nuts and bolts, I wanted to share some leftovers from…

The Nationals have come to terms with Kevin Frandsen on a 1-year, $1 million contract, avoiding arbitration with the veteran infielder and ensuring their most-productive bench player from this season returns in 2015. A source familiar with the deal confirmed it also includes up to $300,000 in performance bonuses. The signing hasn’t been announced by the club yet,…

PHILADELPHIA — Off the bat, it looked like a groundout to the shortstop. Not the most routine of groundouts, but a play Ian Desmond figured to make. Leading off the bottom of the eighth of a tie game, Ben Revere rapped a sharp grounder slightly to Desmond’s right. The Nationals shortstop scooped it up and…

There was Kevin Frandsen’s complete mishandling of a routine fly ball, letting the game’s first run score. There were two more errors by Adam LaRoche and Wilson Ramos. There was a mini-meltdown of sorts by Jordan Zimmermann in the bottom of the seventh. And there was, of course, a heart attack of a ninth inning…

ATLANTA — The digital clock at Turner Field read 2:29 a.m., and the impressive remaining number of the 36,832 fans who were in the park way back when this game was originally supposed to start made their way to the exits, exhausted and disgusted. Behind the third base dugout, though, were a handful of Nationals…

There are few jobs in baseball tougher to master than pinch-hitting, so any evaluation of a player or a team’s performance in that realm has to be taken with a grain of salt. But facts are facts, and right now, Nationals pinch-hitters are among the worst in baseball. Collectively, they are hitting .153 as pinch-hitters,…

With a left-handed pitcher in Wei-Yin Chen on the mound starting for the Orioles, Nationals manager Matt Williams made a bit of a surprise decision to start Kevin Frandsen at second base on Thursday. Danny Espinosa had fared well the night before in his first start since June 27, and he hits .47 points higher…

PITTSBURGH — There was perhaps no more pleasant development for the Washington Nationals in April than the re-emergence of Danny Espinosa after a disastrous 2013 that threatened his future with the organization. And there has been perhaps no more discouraging development for the Nationals in May than the regression of Espinosa back into the form…

If you weren’t able to stay awake through the conclusion of the Nationals’ 6-5 victory over the Diamondbacks late last night … well, you can be excused. It’s tough to ask anyone to stay up well past midnight for a mid-May ballgame out west. You’re in luck, though, because your humble beat reporter is paid…

PHILADELPHIA — Though they’ve managed to be more productive at the plate than most would have thought given the prolonged absence of three key lineup regulars, the Nationals still aren’t taking full advantage of the mountains of opportunities they keep giving themselves. Take Sunday’s 1-0 loss at Citizens Bank Park, a game in which Gio…

Updated at 5:01 p.m. Bryce Harper was due to have an MRI performed on his swollen left thumb late Saturday afternoon after the Nationals outfielder was examined by a hand specialist during the club’s 4-0 victory over the Padres. The MRI is standard procedure, and the Nationals remain hopeful that the injury is not serious,…

Last week after the Nationals swept the Marlins before heading to Atlanta, we at CSN pointed out a coincidental parallel between this season and last. The Nats entered their series with the Braves with the exact same record (then 7-2) as they did in 2013 before getting swept by their rivals. And then the Braves…

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Four days ago, Kevin Frandsen was in Clearwater, assuming he would be heading north with for his third consecutive season with the Phillies. Then the veteran infielder got word the Phillies were outrighting him to the minors, removing him from their 40-man roster, prompting a series of twists that resulted…

JUPITER, Fla. — The Nationals have voided last week’s option of Ross Ohlendorf to Class AAA Syracuse and placed the right-hander on the 60-day disabled list with a right lumbar strain, a move that opened up a spot on the 40-man roster for newly acquired infielder Kevin Frandsen. Ohlendorf had been demoted to the minors…

Updated at 1:15 p.m. JUPITER, Fla. — Turns out the final spot on the Nationals’ bench will go to a player who hadn’t been in their organization the entire spring. The Nationals have signed veteran infielder Kevin Frandsen, cut loose yesterday by the Phillies, and will give the 31-year-old a spot on their Opening Day…